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Writing A Strong Introduction For My Essay: Tips And Examples

Intros are Easy—REALLY

Writing introductions intimidates most students, preventing them from writing or writing well. The trouble with the introduction is, of course, that it comes first and therefore, this keeps many students sitting in front of their computer getting absolutely nothing done, staring at a cursor at it blinks at them menacingly on the page. What you learn after you write for years and years is that the first sentences do not have to be magical. In fact, at the beginning of any document, you want to keep the writing simple and give the reader time to adjust to the new subject matter. You also want to keep it interesting? Why? You have to! Let me explain.

Writing interesting introductions is especially important now

We are now firmly entrenched in the age of technology—when readers are used to getting short bursts of exciting information all day long with the click of a mouse. See, web surfing does not encourage that kind of patient reading we do with, say, a John Steinbeck novel—as he is famous for taking readers through long, winding, descriptions of nature before he ever gets to the action of the novel. Readers today would probably put down many of these novels because of the way the internet encourages you to read—so I advise you to keep it interesting and unusual at the beginning of the article. Keep it interesting and to the point and write very clearly WITHOUT trying to perform any fancy writing tricks or using any high brow, high-faulting literary terms that take up half a page.

Writing Introductions in the Internet Age

So, what you want to do when writing introductions is to keep your sentences short and to the point. You want to gradually lead your reader to your thesis with highly interesting, attention getting sentences that lead them, word by word, to a very clearly stated thesis.

For example, if I were writing an article on how polar bears are feared to become extinct because of human-created global warming practices, I would probably try to get their attention (and sympathy) with a reference to recent heart wrenching movies about polar bears, or by descripting their beauty.

For example:

Polar bears are one of the most beautiful creatures in the world and also some of the most loving parents to their young . . .